Saving BASIC programs from emulators

[SIO99]

Please can anyone tell me if it's possible to save Atari BASIC programs from within any of the emulators that exist. If so, then how? I've just tried saving a program as a text file from a text file editor, but giving it the extension .BAS and all I got was BOOT ERROR. I've been using Atari800Win Plus, as well as XFormer, for a few weeks, but this doesn't seem possible. I'm now bidding on some Atari XL and XE computers on eBay, but I may end up getting one without any storage device. After this, I may still not be able to save, or have to buy an Atari tape deck, floppy drive, or the SIO2SD adaptor. I recently got a DVD full of emulators and have found that the Atari is one of the more interesting computer systems. My ambition is to program some new and different games on an Atari 8 bit emulator or real Atari, then once I understand how to do that, I could convert the games for a more modern system. This is because modern computers are more complicated and have various obstacles that get in the way of programming games.

[+Stephen]

Since you are using Atari 800 Win +, go into the options and set up a hard drive folder. This will present itself to the Atari as an H device (H1: as opposed to D1:). Now, here is the cool bit. Adding a 5 to the number (H6: instead of H1:) will write to that device using the proper PC EOL character ($10,$13) as opposed to the Atari's ($9B). So, to save your BASIC code as a text file, enter the following :

 

LIST "H6:FNAME.TXT"

 

To load that back into the Atari, do

ENTER "H6:FNAME.TXT"

[mimo]

Pipped at the post

Edited April 17, 2012 by mimo

[Pengwin]

That is a really cool trick. It works with Atari800MacX as well.

[SIO99]

Since you are using Atari 800 Win +, go into the options and set up a hard drive folder. This will present itself to the Atari as an H device (H1: as opposed to D1:). Now, here is the cool bit. Adding a 5 to the number (H6: instead of H1:) will write to that device using the proper PC EOL character ($10,$13) as opposed to the Atari's ($9B). So, to save your BASIC code as a text file, enter the following :

 

LIST "H6:FNAME.TXT"

 

To load that back into the Atari, do

ENTER "H6:FNAME.TXT"

 

That sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately, I've just tried it several times and the emulator won't allow me to set it up!! :-(( . I clicked on D1: , but it wouldn't allow me to browse the hard drive. It said the device was Z: . I had previously set up a folder called ATARI. BTW, I'm running this emulator under Linux OS, using the software WINE. All Windows programs come under a virtual C: drive. I hope this isn't preventing that feature from working.

[jaybird3rd]

Here's another option that occurs to me: use the emulator to capture printer output to a file, or to a text editor like Windows Notepad (I know Atari800Win PLus 2.7b supports this option; it's in the "Misc" menu, under "Extra Options"). Then, all you have to do is type LIST "P:" in BASIC to send the entire program listing to the "virtual printer".

[Fox-1 / mnx]

Please can anyone tell me if it's possible to save Atari BASIC programs from within any of the emulators that exist.

 

Did you actually start by loading a DOS first? No Disk-Operating-System is no saves to (virtual) disk.

[Bryan]

Reading the title, I thought emulators were doing something terrible to BASIC programs.

[SIO99]

Please can anyone tell me if it's possible to save Atari BASIC programs from within any of the emulators that exist.

 

Did you actually start by loading a DOS first? No Disk-Operating-System is no saves to (virtual) disk.

 

No, sorry, I didn't do that. At some times a DOS menu has appeared, but I can't remember how I did that. I thought I could have either BASIC or DOS running, but not both at the same time. I'll read the help file again and see if I can set it up, but I'd appreciate your help.

[SIO99]

I still don't know how to save from any emulator! It may not be possible. Why do they have to make everything so complicated!? Tonight I got outbid on eBay for an Atari 65XE being sold without any storage device. I hope I can make a successful bid on an Atari 800XL WITH a tape drive tomorrow!

[AtariGeezer]

I still don't know how to save from any emulator! It may not be possible. Why do they have to make everything so complicated!? Tonight I got outbid on eBay for an Atari 65XE being sold without any storage device. I hope I can make a successful bid on an Atari 800XL WITH a tape drive tomorrow!

 

Maybe a manual on how to use Atari Computers might help you out

http://www.atarimania.com/documents-atari-400-800-xl-xe-manuals_2_8.html

 

Jay

[SIO99]

I still don't know how to save from any emulator! It may not be possible. Why do they have to make everything so complicated!? Tonight I got outbid on eBay for an Atari 65XE being sold without any storage device. I hope I can make a successful bid on an Atari 800XL WITH a tape drive tomorrow!

 

Maybe a manual on how to use Atari Computers might help you out

http://www.atarimani...anuals_2_8.html

 

Jay

 

I don't think so! I will read it later, though. There are manuals I've read on the emulators DVD already. The problem seems to be caused by using emulators instead of a real Atari 8 bit computer. These emulators seem to do everything EXCEPT allow me to save a program written in BASIC! All I should have to do is type SAVE "PROGNAME" or even SAVE "PROGNAME.BAS" and that would be that! I think my next step will be to install an Atari 8 bit emulator for Mac OS running on a Power PC Mac with OS X 10.3.9. I hope this will solve the problem, as the emulator will be designed for Mac OS X instead of me running Atari 8 bit emulators for MS Windows under Linux OS!!!!

[AtariGeezer]

These emulators seem to do everything EXCEPT allow me to save a program written in BASIC! All I should have to do is type SAVE "PROGNAME" or even SAVE "PROGNAME.BAS" and that would be that!

 

Maybe on a C64, but not Atari. For Atari you need to specify a device with the filename like; SAVE "D1:PROGRAM.BAS" or LIST "D1:PROGRAM.BAS".

("D1" is Drive #1, "D2" is Drive #2 and so on)...

But in order to do that you have to have a DOS loaded first...

 

Jay

[SIO99]

These emulators seem to do everything EXCEPT allow me to save a program written in BASIC! All I should have to do is type SAVE "PROGNAME" or even SAVE "PROGNAME.BAS" and that would be that!

 

Maybe on a C64, but not Atari. For Atari you need to specify a device with the filename like; SAVE "D1:PROGRAM.BAS" or LIST "D1:PROGRAM.BAS".

("D1" is Drive #1, "D2" is Drive #2 and so on)...

But in order to do that you have to have a DOS loaded first...

 

Jay

 

Well, I should tell you that I've used various computers apart from the Commodore 64. I've owned an Amstrad CPC, Yamaha CX5M Music Computer MSX, as well as the Amiga A500, A600, and A1200, before moving on to PCs running MS Windows and Linux. I've recently got two old Macs. Anyway, we're talking about saving from within BASIC here, and it seems that Atari 8 bitters have a different way of dealing with saving compared to other dialects of BASIC. Please will someone tell me how to load the DOS? I've done it before, but only by accident.

[Joey Z]

you put a dos disk in D1: it will load, and then go to basic, so it won't look like it's running, but it will be. you can exit from BASIC to DOS with the command, 'DOS' in basic. then you can use the command to run the cartridge under DOS to get back to BASIC

[SIO99]

you put a dos disk in D1: it will load, and then go to basic, so it won't look like it's running, but it will be. you can exit from BASIC to DOS with the command, 'DOS' in basic. then you can use the command to run the cartridge under DOS to get back to BASIC

 

Just two problems! 1. How do I put a DOS disk into D1:? 2. I'm trying to save BASIC programs I plan to write myself, so I don't want to exit from BASIC!

[Roydea6]

TROLL!! Ploink..

[AtariGeezer]

Time to read the manuals and help file/docs of the emulators...

I don't think everyone wants to spoon feed you all the answers before you understand what it's all about...

 

Jay

[+Larry]

ATTACH an ATR disk image to D1: that contains an Atari dos -- Dos 2, Dos 2.5, MyDos, are recommended to begin with.

Make sure that the emulator is set up to use BASIC. (Not to bypass BASIC.)

After booting the "Atari" in the emulator, make sure that you are at the READY prompt.

Type in your program. Note that Atari Basic is slightly different than Microsoft type BASICs. It WILL give you immediate feedback for most entry/syntax errors

Save your program to the disk image (ATR) in D1:. SAVE "D1:PROGNAME.BAS"

 

You now have a SAVEd program that you can reload. LOAD "D1:PROGNAME.BAS" if you wish to add to it or modify it later.

 

-Larry

[SIO99]

ATTACH an ATR disk image to D1: that contains an Atari dos -- Dos 2, Dos 2.5, MyDos, are recommended to begin with.

Make sure that the emulator is set up to use BASIC. (Not to bypass BASIC.)

After booting the "Atari" in the emulator, make sure that you are at the READY prompt.

Type in your program. Note that Atari Basic is slightly different than Microsoft type BASICs. It WILL give you immediate feedback for most entry/syntax errors

Save your program to the disk image (ATR) in D1:. SAVE "D1:PROGNAME.BAS"

 

You now have a SAVEd program that you can reload. LOAD "D1:PROGNAME.BAS" if you wish to add to it or modify it later.

 

-Larry

 

OK, thanks! I've now made some progress. Unfortunately, the DOS disk images were both XFD format, not ATR. There's another one called "MYDOS4SD.ATR", though. I copied these from the DVD onto my hard drive. I didn't seem to have any luck saving onto a DOS disk image which had only DOS on it, but I did succeed in saving and loadlng from a DOS disk image which had lots of BASIC demos on it, although not much free space. These included "WATRFAL.BAS" and "FORTUNE.BAS". Unfortunately, although I saved two test programs which printed "[Myname] was here! " a few times on each line, I could only load the first of these back into RAM. I also managed to load the demos into RAM and run them. I'm still thinking about whether or not to buy a real Atari 8 bit computer and tape drive in about 9-11 hours time.

Edited April 19, 2012 by SIO99

[Joey Z]

ATTACH an ATR disk image to D1: that contains an Atari dos -- Dos 2, Dos 2.5, MyDos, are recommended to begin with.

Make sure that the emulator is set up to use BASIC. (Not to bypass BASIC.)

After booting the "Atari" in the emulator, make sure that you are at the READY prompt.

Type in your program. Note that Atari Basic is slightly different than Microsoft type BASICs. It WILL give you immediate feedback for most entry/syntax errors

Save your program to the disk image (ATR) in D1:. SAVE "D1:PROGNAME.BAS"

 

You now have a SAVEd program that you can reload. LOAD "D1:PROGNAME.BAS" if you wish to add to it or modify it later.

 

-Larry

 

OK, thanks! I've now made some progress. Unfortunately, the DOS disk images were both XFD format, not ATR. There's another one called "MYDOS4SD.ATR", though. I copied these from the DVD onto my hard drive. I didn't seem to have any luck saving onto a DOS disk image which had only DOS on it, but I did succeed in saving and loadlng from a DOS disk image which had lots of BASIC demos on it, although not much free space. These included "WATRFAL.BAS" and "FORTUNE.BAS". Unfortunately, although I saved two test programs which printed "[Myname] was here! " a few times on each line, I could only load the first of these back into RAM. I also managed to load the demos into RAM and run them. I'm still thinking about whether or not to buy a real Atari 8 bit computer and tape drive in about 9-11 hours time.

you probably don't want to buy a tape drive, they are horribly slow and unreliable (only 600 baud) and you can emulate atari disks on your PC with an SIO2PC (much faster, much more reliable)

[atari8warez]

ATTACH an ATR disk image to D1: that contains an Atari dos -- Dos 2, Dos 2.5, MyDos, are recommended to begin with.

Make sure that the emulator is set up to use BASIC. (Not to bypass BASIC.)

After booting the "Atari" in the emulator, make sure that you are at the READY prompt.

Type in your program. Note that Atari Basic is slightly different than Microsoft type BASICs. It WILL give you immediate feedback for most entry/syntax errors

Save your program to the disk image (ATR) in D1:. SAVE "D1:PROGNAME.BAS"

 

You now have a SAVEd program that you can reload. LOAD "D1:PROGNAME.BAS" if you wish to add to it or modify it later.

 

-Larry

 

OK, thanks! I've now made some progress. Unfortunately, the DOS disk images were both XFD format, not ATR. There's another one called "MYDOS4SD.ATR", though. I copied these from the DVD onto my hard drive. I didn't seem to have any luck saving onto a DOS disk image which had only DOS on it, but I did succeed in saving and loadlng from a DOS disk image which had lots of BASIC demos on it, although not much free space. These included "WATRFAL.BAS" and "FORTUNE.BAS". Unfortunately, although I saved two test programs which printed "[Myname] was here! " a few times on each line, I could only load the first of these back into RAM. I also managed to load the demos into RAM and run them. I'm still thinking about whether or not to buy a real Atari 8 bit computer and tape drive in about 9-11 hours time.

 

An Atari would be a nice investment (emulators are great but there's nothing like the feeling of a real mcCoy), the real slow part of an Atari system is the I/O, but thanks to many Atari enthousiasts and hobbiests there is now a plethora of higher speed options, one of them is SIO2PC which allows you to connect your Atari to a PC (Windows/Unix/Mac) and use it as a much faster and virtually limitless capacity disk drive (or 8 such disks actually). You can write as many Basic programs as you wish without ever thinking about disk capacity

 

I would only recommand a tape drive if you truly are a masochist , over 25+ years of my Atari ownership I have not even seen one in flesh and I have no regrets.....

[SIO99]

Unfortunately my reasons for trying to buy a cassette drive are due to lack of money. I'd have to write some fairly long programs before I'd have to wait that long for them to load. I don't think I can afford an SIO2PC or an SIO2SD adaptor. I haven't done much electronics and haven't got any soldering iron, multimeter, etc at the moment.

Edited April 19, 2012 by SIO99

[+Larry]

Think long and hard about a tape drive. My advice is to save your money, and look for a good used 1050 drive with power supply and SIO cable. If you watch and wait, you can get one for not much more than a tape drive. You may get some offers here or in the Atari Age market place. In the meantime, an emulator is a decent substitute, especially since they are very nice emulators (IMO).

 

I'll send you a ZIP of some blank ATR's and some Dos ATR's.

 

Note that some ATR's and XFD's are Read-Only. Those that I send you will be R/W, so no problem saving programs to them. Look for a PM today.

 

-Larry

[SIO99]

Think long and hard about a tape drive. My advice is to save your money, and look for a good used 1050 drive with power supply and SIO cable. If you watch and wait, you can get one for not much more than a tape drive. You may get some offers here or in the Atari Age market place. In the meantime, an emulator is a decent substitute, especially since they are very nice emulators (IMO).

 

I'll send you a ZIP of some blank ATR's and some Dos ATR's.

 

Note that some ATR's and XFD's are Read-Only. Those that I send you will be R/W, so no problem saving programs to them. Look for a PM today.

 

-Larry

 

Thanks a lot for your help! I hope this will enable me to save all my BASIC programs. As for getting a 1050 floppy drive, I'm not really considering this for the following reasons. 1. They seem to be more expensive than cassette drives 2. They're a lot bigger and bulkier than cassette drives 3. They use 5 1/4 disks, which come in covers that can be easily bent, part of the disk's surface is exposed.and AFAIK these disks are hard to obtain anyway.

 

As for buying an Atari 8 bit computer itself, I keep getting outbid on eBay. I know how much or how little money I might be able to afford for this, because recently I've been studying some classic BASIC programming, using commands which are common to all classic MS BASIC dialects. I used these techniques to create a program I've called "Budget Maker", which allows me to plan my budget just by inputting a few expenses, such as for various utilities, etc, calculates what percentage of my total income this is, then tells me how much I've got left for everything else. This is much easier than the approach of inputting hundreds of things I've bought in the past or that I plan to buy in the near future. Unfortunately, the expense item food is made up of lots of separate items, so it can't just be keyed in as one figure like this, but I'm working on how to get a rough figure which will cover it. Unfortunately, this program would even run on a Commodore 64, which was my first computer and caused me lots of stress due to it using a version of BASIC ported from earlier Commodore computers without colour, graphics, or sound. This meant the Commodore 64 had no BASIC commands for colour, graphics, or sound. I sold it after about 11 months!

Edited April 19, 2012 by SIO99